Thermophysical properties of pentaerythritol/nano-SiB6 composites for thermal storage

Pentaerythritol (PE) is a solid-solid phase change material with large latent heat. To improve its performance of thermal storage, nano-SiB6 particles were physically mixed into PE as nucleating agent with contents of 1 wt%, 3wt%, 5wt%, respectively. FTIR analysis was performed for pure PE, nano-SiB6 and the composites. The results show that there are no valence bonds between PE and nao-SiB6, and the composite can storage and release heat as the pure PE do. The surface morphologies of pure PE and PE/nano-SiB6 were scanned by a SEM. The composite shows a much more compacted lamellar microstructure. The specific heat capacities, solid-solid phase change temperatures and latent heats of pure PE and components were measured using DSC, respectively. The PE/nano-SiB6 composites have larger specific heat, lower solid-solid phase change temperature and latent heat than these of pure PE.